Search Engine Optimization

I have had many people ask me what I do at work. As the quote board on my apartment can testify, I didn't know for a while. Now that I think I have a handle on my job, and I have an official title I thought I would write a short piece about what I do.

I work at an Internet Marketing Firm in Gainesville and it does many things. My company builds websites primarily but we also consult on marketing strategy, do technical maintenance on existing sites, and this nebulous service called Search Engine Optimization. SEO as we like to call it is what my department is responsible for.

First, let me start by explaining the purpose of SEO. It's simple really, it is making your website visible to search engines and therefore to the world. Ever wonder why those websites people make in intro to computer science never show up on the first page of Google? Ever been frustrated trying to find the website for something, a church perhaps, and finding it listed after lots of irrelevant things? That is all due to people like me. (Search for St. Joseph's Catholic Church Athens, GA. You won't find the churches homepage on the first few pages)

Search engines use a complex algorithm to decide who shows up where. They use a combination of the code, HTML, and the content to make that decision. Somethings, like the title and header of the page get more weight while other things, such as pictures without tags get no weight. (The reason St. Joe's does not show up is because those words do not appear on the page. They are bound up in an image that the search engine cannot read. You will find the LifeTeen web page Brandon and I put together a long time ago however.) We manipulate those things in the code and the content to help it rank higher on the search engine results page. There are also many other things one can do to help a sites rankings but it can get very technical and boring so thats enough for now.

Many people get ripped off by SEO service providers promising results, getting those results using banned practices, such as link hiding and keyword spamming, and selling pointless services. Many "SEO Firms" will also guarantee that you will rank for a keyword phrase. They make this happen by picking an obscure phrase and optimizing for that. Then they get the customer to search for that phrase, which no one else ever searches for, and the customer thinks they have seen results. SEO just like all marketing should positively impact the bottom line. Sure it is nice to be number one when someone searches for "Aqua Spider Monkey Juggling Staplers" but how many people really search for that. This is my warning about the many thieves that are out there trying to make a quick buck.

Let the SEO Consumers Beware
Let it be known that no one should ever pay anyone to submit their site to a search engine and you need not submit more than once. Search engine submission takes 2.5 seconds on a slow day and is often marketed as an SEO service. Also let it be known that Google Analytics is free and takes slightly longer to install, approximately 3.5 seconds on that same bad day.

A short list of "SEO" services that no one should ever pay for.

• Search Engine Submission
• Google Analyitics
• Links
• Reports with NO recomendations
• Guaranteed Results

SEO is can be a very effective way of promoting a business however it is not widely understood and is often a mask used to rip people off who don't understand internet marketing. If you are paying $200 a month for guaranteed results STOP!. SEO is very time intensive and no matter what anyone says there is no way to guarantee long term results. Everyday I come into contact with people who were made these promises and fell victim to these shady businesses. Often these shady people used shady SEO tricks which ended up hurting the site in the long run. Did you know that your site can be banned by search engines from showing up in the results? I think history says it best "if it looks to good to be true, it probably is."